John Ritenbaugh, examining an article by Guy Benson, the political editor for Townhall.com who sees no conflict between his homosexual orientation and his conservative views, suggests that his defense of his uncloseted perversity is emblematic of the weakness of nominal Christianity. The mainstream Christian churches have lost the battle against immorality, accepting perverted behavior as 'normal' in order to become more 'inclusive.' Many self-proclaimed Christians have come to argue that their perverted lifestyle has no influence on doctrinal purity, insisting that homosexual relationships are acts of love—the 'essence' of Christianity. These deluded people feel that their behaviors make no difference in the quality of their relationship with God. Sadly, most Americans share this view today. God did not gift us with His Laws and His spiritual weapons so that we can "do our own thing." God is preparing heirs who are just like Him—not reprobate children who set their own standards.

Richard Ritenbaugh, examining the current version of the Declaration of Geneva, as adopted in 2017 by the World Medical Association (WMA) General Assembly, compares the philosophy of this document with two of its predecessors: 1.) the Hippocratic Oath and 2.) the original Declaration of Geneva. The Hippocratic Oath is the ancient code of medical ethics in Greece, requiring the physician to uphold high ethical standards in the healing arts, promising to do no harm. Though dated, the Hippocratic Oath remains remarkable for its conservatism, proscribing abortion and euthanasia, while establishing a firm demarcation between right and wrong. The 1948 Declaration of Geneva was a reaction to the experiments performed by some Nazi and Japanese physicians in the 1930s and 40s. It stressed that doctors were duty-bound to protect the well-being and dignity of the patient and to maintain utmost respect for human life. In distinction to its predecessors, the 2017 Declaration of Geneva subtly alters the philosophy of the medical profession. Relativistic in approach, it rejects absolute standards of right and wrong, but rather permits the physician to yield to the whims of the patient, including their demands for abortion, sex change, and physician-assisted suicide. The 2017 Declaration conforms to the liberal's paradigm of the rejection of Christian values while furthering the deconstruction of traditional Western culture.

Martin Collins, reporting the findings of a recent Barna Poll, reveals that many Americans (especially the Millennials) have rejected the concept of moral absolutes and have embraced the treacherous notion that truth is relative, totally a matter of personal experience and cultural preference, similar to the state of affairs in Ancient Israel, as related at the conclusion of the book of Judges. Shockingly, two-thirds of the American populace believe truth is relative, while only one-third believe in absolute standards, mostly from the ranks of the aging baby boomers. Where there are no norms or absolutes, there are no guarantees of salvation, but instead an eradication of Christ's saving power, a misinterpretation of laws, and a sinister erosion of morality. Mainstream Christianity, turning grace into licentiousness, has promoted a narcissistic worship of the self. Those who are wise in their own eyes have less hope than a blatant fool. Paradoxically, the fool rejects the wisdom of God (the Gospel) as foolishness, but the 'foolishness' of God is far above the 'wisdom' of the world. Only those who humbly heed God's counsel are wise.

Ronny Graham, while agreeing that the term "tolerance" generally has a positive connotation of "live and let live," maintains that the 'progressives,' through their obsession with political correctness, have sullied this term, turning it into one of the harshest forms of intolerance, militating against God's standards of righteousness, cramming down the throats of our citizenry the understanding that abnormal and perverted behavior is normal while righteous and godly behavior is abnormal. George Carlin has insisted that political correctness is the newest form of intolerance, attempting to neutralize the power of people who are ethically sensitive. One of the cautions given to the Church of Thyatira was that they tolerated the influence of the woman Jezebel, symbolic of the great false church. Tolerating disgusting perversion of any kind (physical or spiritual) in our midst will attract the wrath of Almighty God. Tolerance of evil out of political correctness is not an option for God's called-out ones.

John Ritenbaugh, comparing human behavior in the wake of natural disasters, such as tornadoes and hurricanes, to unnatural disasters, such as bombs and military attacks, suggests that in the latter devastations people become dispirited, listless, as though they had lost their reason for living. Sadly, what has happened to our socio-cultural milieu in the past 70 years has been a systematic undermining of morality, and a bizarre redefinition by leftist, progressive social engineers as to what constitutes normal and as to what constitutes abnormal. In this nation five unelected judges, three of them bitter feminist women, have, at least in their woefully deficient, reprobate minds, nullified or abrogated God's Edenic Covenant with mankind, which established marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. Earlier these reprobate justices rejected God's prohibition on murder, allowing abortion of millions of unborn children These amoral, secular, 'progressive' humanists have made themselves total arbiters of morality, pushing a hopelessly twisted form of pragmatism, thinking they have no accountability beyond this current life. We cannot expect the current compromised, corrupted aggregate of pandering elected politicians to be in sync with God. What the secular, 'progressive' humanists have not factored into their equation is that God is still alive, and that there are consequences for what they and we have done. God Almighty, not the United States Supreme Court, will have the final say in this matter.

John Ritenbaugh, focusing on three English humanistic philosophers closely related in ideas and outlook, namely Jeremy Bentham, (the father of Utilitarianism) John Stuart Mill (reared from his youth by his father on the principles of Utilitarianism) and Bertrand Russell, revealed that these families thought alike, developing a kind of mutual admiration society. Bertrand Russell’s parents actually chose John Stuart Mill as his godfather. Jeremy Bentham was boldly anti-God, demanding that God would come to him and explain Himself, or he would banish God into non-existence. Bentham was described as capricious, narcissistic, ordering his head to be mummified and displayed publically after his death. Bentham served as the driving push to homosexuality, pedophilia, and other assorted forms of perversion. John Stewart Mill, in his philosophy of Utilitarianism, recommended that self-defined pleasure constitutes the only standard of morality needed, regardless of whether the pleasure originated from masochism, sadomasochism, or something else—if it feels good, do it. What makes people feel good varies widely. Bentham’s and Mill’s philosophies actually encourage carnal, human nature on steroids. These philosophers denigrate the idea of absolutes, making all standards relative to individual whim and caprice

John Ritenbaugh insists that this particular topic is attached to the Old and New Covenants, solemn agreements which are eternal (God's Word is eternal) and will not pass away, nor will they be 'done away.' Some things may be set aside for a while, but they are there for our purposes for learning how to judge. Some of the aspects which the world's religious claim are 'done away' will at a future time be brought back. We need to learn to judge in a godly manner, putting merciful restraints on our tendency to condemn or jump to conclusions. We need to inculcate the two great commandments: loving God and loving our fellow humans. We need to learn that sin has different levels of consequences. When it comes to judgment, one size does not fit all. Not everything is on the same level. God is going to judge each of us individually. Our ultimate destiny is to share rulership with our High Priest, Jesus Christ, judging righteously in God's Kingdom, rightly dividing the Word of God. God's Laws set the standards upon which righteous conduct is to be judged. It takes a lifetime to prepare to judge in the Kingdom of God. Learning to apply the spiritual dimension of the law is much more difficult than applying the physical dimension. But both of these dimensions are easier to keep than the traditions and regulations of men, inherently heavy burdens. When Gentile converts were admitted into the church, they were instructed to follow Old Covenant laws regarding the strangling of animals, eating of blood, or eating meat offered to idols. Clearly, the Old Covenant was not 'done away.' After Christ's return, some of the aspects of the Old Covenant, currently in abeyance (for example, circumcision and sacrifices), will be re-instituted. There is nothing evil about the Old Covenant; it provides insights on righteous judgment.

Richard Ritenbaugh, indicating that there are many flashpoints between the greater Church of God and nominal Christianity, suggests that perhaps one of the most significant differences concerns the place and purpose of God's Law. The carnal mind hates and despises God's Law. The Protestant doctrine of grace has an antinomian core, thinking that justification is a synonym for sanctification and salvation, ruling out any need for works. The Law was not nailed to the cross; the handwriting of ordinances (the record of our sins) was nailed to the cross. The Law shows us the boundary markers, serving as a protective hedge. Sadly, morality and 'moralism' are looked upon in many sectors of Protestantism as pejorative terms, juxtaposed in a false dichotomy with the gospel. We do not keep the Law to save ourselves, but keeping the Law is a major part of the Gospel, our guide to show us how to live our lives, helping us to stay in unity with the King. Nominal Christianity has rejected God's Law, the Sabbath, and God's Holy Days, all of which provide guidelines for our spiritual journey toward the Kingdom of God, following Jesus Christ with the help of God's Holy Spirit. Eating unleavened bread symbolizes taking in what is good and pure, purging out the old leaven and becoming a new lump—the new man. We have a part to play in forging the new man. The Feast of Unleavened Bread reminds us that God did the vast majority of the work, that God intends that His Law be in our mouths (not done away), and that these days are to be kept annually and in perpetuity. God's Word is available to us, enabling us to ingest it daily, making it part of our hearts and minds, enabling us to edify others and modeling it in our lives. God supplies the Word and the Spirit to put us on the same wavelength as He is on, working from the same playbook. We are being groomed to be the Bride of Christ. Our putting out sin and living righteously was not abolished by His death on the cross. We are called to be holy in all our conduct. We will not be

Idolatry is probably the sin that the Bible most often warns us against. John Ritenbaugh explains the first commandment, showing that we worship the source of our values and standards. God, of course, wants our values and standards to come from Him and Him only, for there is no higher Source in all the universe!

Richard T. Ritenbaugh: In listening to a series of 48 lectures by University of California at Berkeley Professor Robert Greenberg titled "How to Listen to and Understand Great Music," I have come to a greater realization of the evolving tastes among consumers of Western music. ...

There is no doubt that America's culture is plunging to depths many of us never imagined. To Christians, having to deal with the world is a frightening prospect. Here are five steps we can take to mitigate its influence on our lives.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh: As a child in the early 1970s, I remember sitting in the middle of the backseat of the family car, unbuckled and leaning forward over the front seat so I could see out the windshield. ...

John Ritenbaugh cautions that most religious-professing people (including many members of the greater church of God) have not used the Word of God as their standard of morality and conduct, but instead are allowing society and culture to shape their attitudes, tolerating the disgusting incremental escalating perversion of moral standards. Sadly, society is rapidly replicating the dangerous downward spiral extant during the time of Noah, a time in which the intent of every thought was to do evil. People (conditioned or reinforced by the mass media) rely upon their deceitful 'hearts' or 'feelings' rather than the Bible to determine moral standards. The House of Joseph (often claiming to be the last bastion of morality) now leads the world in exporting filth to the rest of mankind. Our only safeguard against moral pollution is to ingest (or assimilate) God's word (spiritual manna- or the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth) every day of our lives.

Understanding our obligation to Christ leads to a deeply held, personal loyalty to Him. John Ritenbaugh explains that our redemption by means of Christ's sacrifice should make us strive to please Him in every facet of life.

Most people think they are moral. They make this judgment based on a comparison between themselves and their peers. Martin Collins shows that we will only begin to grow in character once we compare ourselves to the true standard: Christ and His Word.

In many respects, America has lost its moral and ethical foundation. Richard Ritenbaugh presents evidence from the fields of medicine, politics and religion that the slide into immorality is quickening.

For the past 40 years sexual sins have topped the list of social issues in America. Divorce is at an all-time high. John Ritenbaugh examines the seventh commandment, the penalties paid for breaking it and how to become faithful to God in the keeping of it.

John Ritenbaugh focuses upon God's management of mankind. God has consistently moved His creation toward its ultimate purpose, setting the bounds of nations, motivating rulers (Proverbs 12:1) to pursue a certain course of action, sometimes against their will. It is God's will that we submit to governmental authority (legal or illegal), obeying God, of course, rather than men (Acts 5:29) to the end that by doing good, we provide a good example, silencing the foolish accusations of men. God has chosen a tiny fragment of weak individuals, rescuing them from Satan's rebellious mindset (Ephesians 2:1-3) to fashion into obedient and submissive vessels of glory.

John Ritenbaugh focuses on the deeply felt sense of obligation we feel knowing that a ransom has been paid to redeem us from the death penalty. While we have been justified through grace by faith, good works are the concrete and public reality of this faith. Because we have been bought with an awesome price, we have no right to pervert our lives, but are obligated to look upon our bodies as sacred holy vessels in His service. In John 15:16 Christ teaches that He has appointed us to bring forth fruit. Christ's special calling produces a sense of gratitude, loyalty, and intimate friendship in which we feel an abhorrence of letting Him down.

The book of Amos is an astounding prophecy, closely paralleling the conditions in modern Israel today. This first part deals with introductory materials, Israel's covenant responsibilities, God's judgment and how unrighteousness affects society.

John Ritenbaugh warns that human nature will degenerate as far as it is allowed. It has the tendency to quickly adapt to its environment, "adjusting" effortlessly to immorality and perversion. The conscience'the response of man's moral awareness to the divine revelation concerning himself, his attitudes, and his activities, restraining and permitting behavior (Romans 2:14)'is a function of a person's education, not instinctual. False doctrine causes a person to corrupt his conscience, making him tolerate and accept immorality. The conscience will automatically slide into the gutter (becoming hardened or addicted to sin) if God is not retained in our thoughts (Romans 1:21, Ezekiel 20:23-25). Conversely, if the heart accepts the truth, the conscience will follow suit. After we are converted and transfer our allegiance from the flesh to the spirit, the conscience (with feelings subordinated to rationality) gradually becomes tender, adjusting to God's standards.

The seventh and last of the attitudes within the church, Laodiceanism is the attitude that dominates the era of the end time. It seems more natural to think that this attitude would be the least likely to dominate in such terrible times—that it ought to be obvious that the return of Christ is near. But Christ prophesies that it will occur. In fact, it indicates the power of Babylon! Why does Babylon dominate the church in the end time? Because it dominates the world, and the Christian permits it to dominate him!

Addressing the problem of our supposed anonymity and insignificance, John Ritenbaugh asserts that the little things we do make big impacts in the grand scheme of things; little things make a big difference. Corollaries of this "little things count" principle include: 1) In the reproductive process, there is a powerful tendency toward increase. 2) Every action has a corresponding reaction. 3) We reap what we sow. 4) The fruit produced will be more than what was sown. Sin produces increase (the leavening effect) just as righteousness does. In carnal human nature, there is no impediment to sin. Sin has an addictive, drug-like quality that requires more and more to satisfy. Degeneracy (as a consequence of natural law) is exponentially incremental. Like Achan's "hidden" transgression, what we do in secret eventually comes to light, making an impact on the whole body.

John Ritenbaugh reveals that modern Israel's national sins consist of fraud, deceit and faithlessness- reflected in sexual immorality and idolatry (spiritual adultery or spiritual harlotry). Modern Israel has proved to be faithless in her covenant with Almighty God, boldly, shamelessly, and lustfully pursuing her lovers, showing fickleness toward God's standards of morality, turning instead to a syncretistic mixture of rank paganism with a thin veneer of God's truth. Israel, whose loyalty is unstable like quicksilver, has trouble being faithful to anything; this disgusting unreliable behavior—emanating from Satan's nature—seems to be in the genes. It is absolutely impossible for lust (or perverted taste based upon lust) to bring about any kind of satisfaction. Adultery cannot be entered into without irrevocably damaging relationships.

John Ritenbaugh warns us that where our eyes are fixed upon (looking to for guidance and direction) determines how we will conduct our lives. Like our forebears in Ezekiel 20, we have also been influenced by our father's idols, placing us (ignorantly perhaps) in opposition to God's laws and judgments. Immorality is the natural cause-effect consequence of rejecting God's counsel, forcing one to embrace evil as good and reject good as evil, totally perverting standards of morality. Rejecting the true God automatically leads to idolatry, worshipping the god of this world, a being bent on our destruction. Idolatry constitutes the fountainhead from which all other sins flow, all of which amplify obsessive self-centeredness and self-indulgence. We need to educate our conscience to worship (cultivate a relationship with) the true God rather than misconceptions manufactured by our misguided imaginations.

John Ritenbaugh asks us to reflect soberly upon what we have accepted as our authority for permitting ourselves to do or behave as we do— our value system, our code of ethics or code of morality. All law is nothing more than codified morality. Alarmingly, if one willingly rejects God's statutes and judgments, turning instead to his own ideas (or his political institution's ideas) about what constitutes right and wrong- he has become an idolater, subjecting himself to an alien body of law and morality, influenced by Satan, the god of this world. Whatever we choose to obey becomes automatically our sovereign lord. Throughout the relatively brief history of modern Israel, the source of law (or system of morality) has steadily and dramatically shifted away from biblical principles to human moralistic relativism — plunging our entire culture into reprobate debased idolatry- designating good as evil and evil as good. Displacing God's standards for morality with man's standards of morality is the root cause of idolatry.

John Ritenbaugh warns that the pride of Jacob (or his offspring) coupled with the incredible ability to make tremendous technological advances, blinds Israel to its devastating moral deficit. Amos begins with a description or cataloging of the sins of Israel's enemies, followed by a harsh indictment of its own sins and a roar of wrath (or justice), followed by the encirclement by its enemies and its ultimate fall. Thankfully, after punishing His people, God will redeem them and faithfully fulfill His covenant with them. God, in His sovereignty, will do what He must to bring Abraham's seed to repentance and salvation, including allowing crisis, hardship, humiliation, and calamity. As the Israel of God, we dare not complacently take our special covenant-relationship for granted, realizing that His plumbline (a combination of grace and law) will measure us, testing our spirituality while showing absolutely no favoritism or partiality. We need to see ourselves from God's perspective.

John Ritenbaugh reiterates that the "favorite-son status" of Israel was conditional, based upon accepting the terms of their covenant with God. Unfortunately, both ancient and modern Israel have placed their trust in wealth or material things rather than God. God's anger has been aroused as a result of Israel's physical and spiritual defilement—refusing to become sanctified, separate from the ways of the world. God's holiness sets Him apart from everything else, and like Him, His people must become totally different from the world. Instead, our defilement, stemming from our desire to please the self at the expense of others, separates us from Him! The root of sin or immorality lies in man's desire to live his life in self-centered independence from God. We must enlist God's Spirit to kill our self-centered ego, yielding to God's transforming power.

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